There is a model of game stores that allows for game space and tournaments. It was THE ANSWER for a couple of years, but having been through similar ANSWERS before, I was skeptical.

When Gambit closed, the town was left without a game playing space. I thought about trying to squeeze in just enough movable fixtures to create just enough space to have modest sized tournaments.

I thought about it for about 2 days.

On the afternoon of the second day, I had a guy come in and say, "I'm new to town. Where do you guys play tournaments?"

"Funny you should ask that, because we were thinking about doing it. In the meantime, we have all the brands in stock."

"Oh," he snorts dismissively. "I only buy online."

End of my dalliance with game space.

That may seem like an over reaction, but what it was was a bracing reminder to me of why I didn't go that route in the first place. And a reminder that Gambit Games, in the end, didn't have as much loyalty from the player base as it needed.

In every surge, there is that initial golden age when customers buy your product at full retail without any complaints. Indeed, they seem happy you have it. You expand your services which causes even greater happiness. Then, somewhere around the peak of the surge, the customer who has always bought from you will come in and not buy anything and talk about the new product knowledgeably. Oh, oh, you think.

Then , the next trip they'll finally let slip, they bought it somewhere else, online or brick and mortar. But don't worry, they still love the services you offer.

Uh,uh. The services are there because you buy.

So you start to scale back.

When Gambit closed, I upped my order on the next release of magic, and probably sold it -- slightly -- better. Not dramatically, though.

A local group developed that played at private houses. Had a couple of representatives of that group come in last week and ask if we were going to have a sale on magic.

"I always sell the magic boxes cheaper the first week. We'll be charging 100.00."

"Great! We're going to need several boxes."

So I get on the phone and up my order by 4 boxes.

Yesterday afternoon, I get a call from one of those guys. "We were thinking about buying a case of magic (6 boxes) for 450.00 online. But we thought we'd check with you first. I believe in buying locally."

That's 75.00 a box, folks. Or roughly our COG's since we buy from a distributer.

So the guy wants to buy locally, as long as we give it to him.

I just told him, thanks but no thanks, and our boxes are 100.00 and thanks for thinking of us.

I've been down that road before, and it doesn't lead to a good place. I'm better off not even starting down that road.

Even if I was buying directly from the company, the largest profit I would make would be about 5.00 a box, or a grand total of 30.00.

On the other hand, if I sell 8 packs for 4.00, regular retail, I make 2.00 more and still have 208 packs left.

We've entered the suicidally competitive phase (again) of magic, and the end result is the product will be so devalued that nobody but the online shysters can do it. Game stores will continue to drop like flies. And game customers will continue to wonder why they can't find any place to play.

I'm not actually mad about it. It's human nature. But it is why I've constructed my store the way I have, with 10 product lines. I take what the customer is willing to give me, but I won't cut my throat right in front of them to gain their business.